Weaponry of the Land

[Pipstickz]

Howdy MD! As it's the anniversary, a time of celebration and commemoration, I'd like for us to take a moment to reflect on things that may have been forgotten by some folks. The premise is simple: I want you to do some research on Land Weapons and send in your findings. For transparency's sake, I plan to make all entries public after judging is complete, but if requested I'm willing to redact parts. So without further ado, here are your research prompts, use as many or few as you like, but I do expect some details from each prompt to be in your submission, even if you don't directly address the question. However, the final two are mandatory.

 

What is a Land Weapon?

How many are there?

Where are they?

What do they do?

How are they activated?

How are they powered?

How are they controlled?

What would happen to it if a Land were to lose its Weapon, or access thereto?

For each Land that contains a Land Weapon, imagine you are a citizen with full control over the Weapon and explain how you'd use your Homeland's Weapon to help your fellow citizens.

For each Land that contains a Land Weapon, imagine you are an infiltrator who has seized control of the Weapon and explain how you'd use it to disrupt your enemies.

 

Some might say this is a cheap data-mining attempt, so to offset said cheapness I'll be personally sponsoring a Tainted Angien, to be rewarded if:

1. There are at least 10 entries, each with at least one interesting idea in them. Doesn't have to be original, but it must to be interesting.

2. The judge(s) determine that one entry stands above the rest as particularly insightful, well-researched or creative.

So now it's an expensive data-mining attempt! Take that imaginary critics!

 

I'll also be sponsoring a pack of Molima-related resources, which includes 5 glue, a skull and some garbage, maybe a couple others (I need to check what he costs again to be sure, will do so once I return to the mainland), as well as one History of the Elucubration Creature item (I promised this item to Zleip as a sponsorship for one of his quests in the past, but that was years ago, so I'm invoking the statute of limitations. Sorry Z!). These rewards will go to either first and second or second and third, or may be distributed differently, pursuant to possible further sponsorships.

NOTE: It seems the History of the Elu items aren't working...I hope they're fixable! I'll make a bug report.

 

Speaking of which, other sponsorships are, of course, very welcome!

Entries are to be forum PM'd to me. They can be as long or as short as you like and may include images if you wish to do so.

Anybody willing to help judge would be greatly appreciated. The only prerequisite being that you have what you consider a good baseline knowledge about Land Weapons. I'd like to specifically request Chew or Mur to help judge this (and especially to help redact the published answers!) if either of you have the time/energy, but if not we shall make due! If nobody wants to be a judge, I'll instead write up some criteria and have each participant mark other entries, and average that score with my judgement on the same criteria.

Get crackin', folks!

[Chewett]

  On 4/14/2018 at 8:44 PM, Pipstickz said:

NOTE: It seems the History of the Elu items aren't working...I hope they're fixable! I'll make a bug report.

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Oh no! Link me the bug report with images please

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Do you need sponsorship?

[Pipstickz]

  On 4/14/2018 at 9:08 PM, Chewett said:

Oh no! Link me the bug report with images please

--

Do you need sponsorship?

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I wouldn't say I NEED sponsorship, especially if participation ends up being low, but I'd love to reward some Annivs! I'll leave it to your wise discretion, sir.

[Pipstickz]

Ah, I forgot to set a deadline! You have until Apr 30 23:59:59 to submit your papers. Study hard!

[Pipstickz]

An update, we have our first judge, who will remain anonymous until after results are given.

[Nimrodel]

I will sponsor a wishpoint if there are 5 or more than 5 participants and the submissions are made public after the contest judgement is over.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Nimrodel

[Pipstickz]

Thanks Nim!

I suppose I'll do the "Let first place choose first, second place choose second, etc." thing, in case anybody values all these things differently than me.

  On 4/16/2018 at 9:32 AM, Nimrodel said:

and the submissions are made public after the contest judgement is over.

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Yep! I plan to make entries public, with only slight redactions if requested by the participant, or if the judges decide together there's a secret that's particularly worth figuring out yourself (whether it's "correct" to intended MD ideas or not, by the way). I hope that's acceptable to you.

[Nimrodel]

  On 4/16/2018 at 5:08 PM, Pipstickz said:

Thanks Nim!

I suppose I'll do the "Let first place choose first, second place choose second, etc." thing, in case anybody values all these things differently than me.

Yep! I plan to make entries public, with only slight redactions if requested by the participant, or if the judges decide together there's a secret that's particularly worth figuring out yourself (whether it's "correct" to intended MD ideas or not, by the way). I hope that's acceptable to you.

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yup ok..

[Pipstickz]

Procrastinators beware, about a week left until the deadline!

[Pipstickz]

Aaaaand time's up with zero entries.

Thanks to Azull for offering to judge and Nimrodel for your sponsorship!

[Pipstickz]

As a note, They also submitted an entry just after the deadline.

  Reveal hidden contents

What is a Land Weapon? An outermagic spell so powerful that no individual can grasp it, it must be imbued in a land.

How many are there? There is only one land weapon but we have four obvious versions of it and a few that most people incidentally choose to ignore.

Where are they? They don't exist physically and this cannot have a physical location. That being said, there are certain places in each land that are strong metaphors for the land weapons

What do they do? They don't do anything unless activated. When activated they have a strong passive effect that affects the rules of the world in significant ways.

How are they activated? Only time can tell. Maybe an immature answer to this question would be "group spirit" or "leader spirit" but they think that seduction may be more appropriate.

How are they powered? Love. (Read: heat, lots and lots of heat)

How are they controlled? You are funny, a land weapon cannot be controlled. It just is.

What would happen to it if a Land were to lose its Weapon, or access thereto? If a land were to lose its weapon that would be the least of their worries. The land will always have the weapon but they can easily cease to exist which would cause their version of the land weapon to be lost. Losing access is definitely interesting

For each Land that contains a Land Weapon, imagine you are a citizen with full control over the Weapon and explain how you'd use your Homeland's Weapon to help your fellow citizens. No man's land: They would unbind the four mainlands such that they begin to cycle, orbit, and cease to exist as we know them. They would create a cataclysm and destroy this realm.

For each Land that contains a Land Weapon, imagine you are an infiltrator who has seized control of the Weapon and explain how you'd use it to disrupt your enemies. If the land weapon is on then they turn it off. If it is off then they turn it on.

 

Each land weapon has two states: on an off. A balance for the world exists for each combination of land weapon states but as a land weapon changes there is an unending period of chaos. After this short break between states of equilibrium the world will be balanced again.

They also was rewarded one bone and one fine sand for this entry. Of all the answers I'd say the answer to "How many are there?"is the most interesting. With that settled, this topic can probably be closed.

[Pipstickz]

What is a Land Weapon?

A representation of each Land's greatest strength and its fatal flaw

How many are there?

Five

Where are they?

In the case of two, in the centre or close to it. In the case of another two, beside an almost-closed gate. In the case of a fifth, in the last place you'd look.

What do they do?

Loreroot's can pierce your core, Marind Bell's can close its land off, Golemus' can attract or repel certain things from its target, Necrovion's reveals a truth hidden within yourself, the fifth traps your soul.

How are they activated?

Two are activated by mechanisms that must be fulfilled by multiple agreeing voices, two are activated by a single strong-willed participant, and one is activated in turn by everybody.

How are they powered?

The altars of each land produce various natural effects which by their nature power the mechanisms

How are they controlled?

Two have control mechanisms, three cannot be controlled and produce the same effects regardless of input

What would happen to it if a Land were to lose its Weapon, or access thereto?

The land would likely crumble apart from the inside, its essence and "keystone" removed

For each Land that contains a Land Weapon, imagine you are a citizen with full control over the Weapon and explain how you'd use your Homeland's Weapon to help your fellow citizens.

Loreroot - I would use it to soften the hearts of warring lands

Golemus - I would use it to bury Necrovion

Marind Bell - I would save it for a rainy day

Necrovion - I would invite everyone to use it to their heart's content

Fifth - I would reveal its nature

For each Land that contains a Land Weapon, imagine you are an infiltrator who has seized control of the Weapon and explain how you'd use it to disrupt your enemies.

Loreroot - I would use it to turn citizens of every land against each other

Golemus - I would use it to bury everything, causing every land to be "Golemus" and therefore erasing all lands

Marind Bell - I would use it always

Necrovion - I would ignore it completely

Fifth - I would reveal its nature